Blogiversary!

Hey, y'all! It's my Blogiversary! Let's party!

Let's see. We have a contraband jar of Hershey's fudge sauce and some low-carb ice cream; a lot of diet cokes and a few bottled waters. That ought to do it for food. We're listening to Chris's Manager CD. We're all set!

So let's get out the sorting sock.

Sorting Sock a souvenir of Turkey, brought back by my piano student who is a colonel in the US Air Force Reserves.

Prize number 1 had no takers, so I will donate it to my spinning guild library. I have two copies of it for some reason.

Now for the next one.

2. Zen String Lotus Toes in Draconian colorway

100% superwash BFL wool; 100 g. 400 yds.

Six people listed it as their first choice, so six numbered almonds go in the sock and . . . She-Knits! Umm, Sharon, I know how much you love sock knitting. Maybe you can knit a nice scarf.

Now at some point my next three piano students will show up, so there will be a break in the awards ceremony. Y'all can go watch Dr. Who until I'm done.

But for now, we have prize number 3:

3. Pink Pencil Roving (unspun)

unspun roving in a 1 lb. bump; from Fingerlakes Woolen Mill in Genoa, NY

With only two bidders in the game this one goes to . . . Anne! I understand you can spin with this or knit it without spinning, and it's supposed to felt well.

Only three people expressed an interest in our next item:]

4. Low-Whorl spindle with ceramic whorl



And it goes to . . . Katherine! A good thing, too, since she didn't have any alternate choices. But nuts never lie.

We'll skip prize number 5, the Fyberspates, for now since no one listed it as their first choice. However it has a huge following for second choice, so we'll definitely come back to it after all the items that were listed as first choices are given out.

It will be a trick to see if we can get through Item number 6 before the piano students come, but let's see how far we get.

6. Knit Picks Sock Memories in Gladiolus colorway (3 skeins)
100% merino wool, made in Peru; each skein 50 g. 192 yds

That should do it for the students today. So on with the prizes. For the Gladiolus sock yarn we have Turtle! Congratulations, Turtle.

No one listed the Knitpicks yarn in the Easter colorway as either their first or their second choice, so we'll put number 7 on hold for now. Moving on to number 8 we have the contest's most popular option, with fourteen people interested it, with half of you listing it as first choice. Yikes! There can be only one.

8. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Lakeview colorway (2 skeins)
80% superwash wool, 20% nylon; each skein app. 215 yds

Luckily Lorinda, our winner, did not have to destroy the other seven contestants. It is only coincidence that Lorinda and Lorna start with the same syllable. I believe Lakeview is a colorway you can usually find online and at shops, so if you didn't win it you may be able to find one somewhere.

The next item is the "Die Strasse zum Sozialismus" Opal.

9. One skein of Opal wool sock yarn in the "Road to Socialism" colorway


The Almonds of Doom select Laritza! You said you wanted it to go with your collection of Opal that you picked up in Germany . . .

Next up: Harry Potter.

10. One set of Harry Potter stitch markers from Sunneshine


Only a couple of people listed these as a first choice. They go to Victoria. Couldn't go to a more enthusiastic Harry Potter nut, either.

The Kitchener Stitch markers do not have a lot of friends.

11. One set of Kitchener Stitch markers from Girl on the Rocks


Only one person, Audrey, mentioned them at all. And then she took them off her list when I added more prizes. But Audrey just survived the wedding of her daughter, so I am going to send them to her anyway as lagniappe.

And prize number 12, the CD . . .

12. Chris's new audition CD--six tracks of melting, baritone goodness that will make you want to weep and, we hope, make an agent get him lots of jobs



I am making a copy of it for everyone who requests it. Chris gave his OK, and he owns the CD copyright. Most of the composers are dead. If Mark Adamo comes after me for giving out free CDs with an aria from his Little Women aria on it, I'll deal with it. Maybe he takes sock yarn in lieu of royalties.

Und nun haben wir Zen String "Bliss":



This is a very Laurel colorway. I wonder if she will get it.
>time passes
>time passes
Yuppers, the Two Fates Almonds pick Laurel!

Only two people expressed an interest in the mohair spinning fiber. Probably because no one knows how to spin mohair except for them.



Even people who don't spin need to go to Sakina Needles and read her funny product descriptions. The winner of this lovely lot is . . . JC!

JC, I was not able to figure out where to contact you. Please comment with your email address so I can get in touch with you.

Three people are competing for this next prize as their first choice:]



The only reason this is in the contest is that I know where to get more! This skein goes to . . .

Joanne! And it just ocurred to me that I should be linking to all these people's blogs, so I'm going to suspend the contest for a couple of minutes while I go back and do that.

I keep wanting to eat the Wise Almonds of Choosing. I'm not sure Sharpee ink is good for me, though.

OK, so what number are we up to? Let's see . . . that would be this:

16. Zen String spinning fiber

Through the Looking Glass colorway; 4 oz. Blue-faced Leicester

It goes to Judy J who, incidentally, is the designer of prize number 20, the Sprites sock yarn. You know you want more fiber, Judy.

And we are skipping ahead to said Sprites sock yarn, since the next couple of picks had no takers in the first choice category.

20. Sprites! sock yarn by Judy Jackson



Tola! You got it! Congratulations!n Tola's blog is private, so no link.

OK, now let's go back and pick up prizes that people listed as their second favorites.

First is

5. Fyberspates sock yarn in reds and plums
100% Bluefaced Leicester Wool, hand-dyed in Wales; 100 g. 330 yds

This was quite popular as a second choice, with six Almonds of Prophecy going into the sock.

And the winner is: PaulaB! Good going, Paula!

The next item which was only put down as a second choice is

17. Lime & Violet Sasquatch



There are two contestants. Let's see what happens . . . the Food of Foresight goes into the sock . . . and out comes SheepsPyjamas!

The last prize for which there are actually contestants is

18. Dream in Color Smooshy!



The lucky winner (and I do mean lucky--Smooshy is full of smooshy goodness) is Lynn! Congratulations, Lynn.

The Knitpicks Easter colorway of sock yarn

7. Knit Picks Sock Memories in Easter colorway (2 skeins)
100% merino wool, made in Peru; each skein 50 g. 192 yds

goes to ikkinlala. Congratulations!

I'm sorry that not everyone got a prize. Thanks for entering even if you didn't win anything.

And thanks for coming to my party. There's still a lot of diet Coke left . . .

Oh, right. The Delphic Almonds want to say goodbye before I plant them in the yard:



It's not just the Sharpee ink. I pulled the Sorting Sock out of my laundry bin . . .